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LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS 


Notes  on  the 
Care,  Cataloguing,  Calendaring 

and 

Arranging  of  Manuscripts 


BY 


J,  C,  FITZPATRICK 

C^ef  Assistant,  Division  of  Manuscripts 


WASHINGTON 

QOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1913 


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Notes  on  the 


Care,  Cataloguing,  Calendaring 

and 

Arranging  of  Manuscripts 


BY 


J.  C.  FITZPATRICK 

Chief  Assistant^  Division  of  Manuscripts 


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WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1913 


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PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  Library  of  Congress  has  not  made  a  practice  of  issuing 
manuals  descriptive  of  its  administrative  processes  or  the 
specialized  treatment  of  particular  collections.  In  the  case 
of  the  manuscripts,  however,  a  description  seems  desirable 
for  several  reasons:  First,  because  there  seems  not  to  be 
available  in  print  a  practical  guide  or  aid  to  the  treatment  of 
archive  material;  second,  because,  in  the  absence  of  such  a 
guide,  the  authorities  of  the  Library  have  had  repeated 
requests  for  advice  on  various  technical  details  connected 
with  such  treatment;  and  third,  because  the  processes  at 
present  in  vogue  in  our  Division  of  Manuscripts  represent 
decisions  reached  by  a  long  and  intimate  experience  with  a 
large  and  important  collection,  varied  in  form  and  condition, 
and  requiring  methods  of  treatment  that  will  not  merely  in- 
sure safety  and  permanence,  but  prompt  efficiency  in  response 
to  a  varied  demand. 

In  the  case  of  manuscripts,  therefore,  it  has  seemed  well  to 
make  available  in  print  a  description  of  the  procedure  in  the 
Library,  of  the  processes,  and  of  the  convictions  of  experience 
upon  which,  between  varying  methods,  a  choice  has  been 
made;  and  the  statement  which  follows  has  been  compiled  not 
merely  as  a  report  of  operations  in  progress,  but  with  a  view 
to  its  possible  utiHty  to  other  institutions  having  Hke  problems. 

The  compiler  is  Mr.  J.  C.  Fitzpatrick,  chief  assistant  in  the 
division,  who  has  seen  the  collection  grow  from  the  restricted 
limit  of  a  single  room  to  its  present  area  of  three  floors,  upon 
which  are  stored  over  a  million  folios  of  original  documents 

311885 


4  UBRARY    OF    CONGRESS 

touching  American  history  from  the  time  of  the  Columbian 
discoveries.  During  this  period  his  personal  experience  of  all 
the  processes  has  been  direct  and  specific,  including  not  merely 
the  physical  handling  of  the  manuscripts  and  the  accession- 
ing, classifying,  cataloguing,  indexing,  and  calendaring  of 
them,  as  well  as  supervision  of  the  various  processes  of  repair^ 
preservation  and  binding,  but  also  the  ministrant  service  of 
the  material  to  investigators. 

Gaillard  Hunt, 
Chief,  Division  of  Manuscripts. 
Herbert  Putnam, 

Librarian  of  Congress, 

Washington,  December,  191 3. 


NOTES 

Manuscripts  and  manuscript  collections  should  be  con- 
sidered first  as  to  preservation,  second  as  to  use. 

1.  Preservation  necessarily  precedes  use  and  largely  deter- 
mines and  governs  it,  though  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a 
manuscript  withheld  from  consultation  might  almost  as  well 
be  nonexistent. 

2.  Use  for  any  legitimate  historical  investigation,  or  simi- 
lar purpose,  should  be  restricted  only  in  proportion  to  certain 
physical  conditions  of  the  manuscript  (manuscripts  of  a  con- 
fidential nature,  official  or  personal,  are  present  in  all  archival 
collections ;  but  consideration  of  such  papers  does  not  properly 
fall  within  the  scope  of  these  notes).  Where  these  physical 
conditions  are  prohibitive  they  may  be  met  by  photographic 
reproduction,  A  manuscript,  unlike  a  rare  imprint,  is  the 
only  one  of  its  kind  existent  and  any  defacement  is  irreparable. 
It  should  not  be  handled  hastily;  nothing  should  be  laid 
upon  it;  it  must  not  be  touched  with  either  pen  or  pencil 
point  and  copying  should  be  with  pencil  if  possible,  as  the 
open,  dripping  inkwell  is  a  constant  menace  to  the  document. 
The  fountain  pen  is  only  less  objectionable.  With  some  well- 
meaning  but  a\\kward  individuals,  however,  the  pencil  for 
copying  or  making  notes  is  all  that  can  safely  be  permitted. 
Consultation  of  manuscripts  should  be  allowed  only  in  the 
presence  and  under  the  constant  observation  of  the  archivist 
or  his  assistants. 

3.  Sensational  exploitation  for  newspaper  or  magazine  must 
be  guarded  against.  To  this  undesirable  use  of  records  the 
archivist  has  but  to  oppose  his  judgment  of  human  nature. 

5 


6  LIBRARY    OF    CONGRESS 

3 — Continued. 
Letters  and  cards  of  introduction  play  an  important  part  here 
and  the  rest  can  be  covered  by  a  brief  conversation.  For- 
tunately the  historical  contents  of  archives  are  of  slight  interest 
to  the  news  gatherer  and  where  the  archivist  has  in  charge 
manuscripts  which,  under  the  deed  of  deposit,  can  not  be 
shown  except  wdth  restrictions  as  to  their  use,  he  must  see 
the  notes  or  copies  made  therefrom  by  the  investigator.  The 
investigator  of  the  manuscripts  should  be  required  to  make 
written  application  for  the  documents  he  desires;  this  appli- 
cation may  be  a  card  form  w'hich,  when  properly  filed,  will 
prove  of  reference  value  to  the  archivist  in  the  course  of  time. 
The  application  card  will,  of  course,  vary  to  suit  different 
needs,  but  a  form  that  wall  meet  most  requirements  may  be 
found  in  the  following : 


Name  of  the  Archive  Bureau 


Applicant: 
Address:— 
Date: 


Manuscript:. 


Purpose  of  investigation:. 


NOTES   ON   THE    CARE.  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS  7 

3 — Contiyiued. 

Generally  speaking,  the  risks  arise  from  careless  handling  of 
the  manuscripts,  and  a  little  watchfulness  will  reduce  these  to 
the  minimum. 

4.  Classes  of  manuscripts. — Manuscripts  may  be  divided 
roughly  into  two  classes:  illuminated  manuscripts  and  cor- 
respondence or  other  pen-created  papers  of  official  and  private 
daily  life.  The  status  of  the  typewritten  letter  is  yet  to  be 
decided  definitely,  though  probably  it  will  be  classed  in  the 
future  with  pen-made  documents.  We  are  not  concerned  here 
either  with  the  care  or  archival  treatment  of  the  illuminated 
manuscript,  a  very  good  discussion  of  which,  together  with 
sound  elemental  instruction  for  cataloguing,  will  be  found  in 
Madan's  "Books  in  Manuscript."  Also  the  quantity  of 
American  parchments  is  negligible  and  seldom  anything  more 
than  a  charter,  land  deed,  patent,  commission,  diploma,  or 
similar  document,  parchment  almost  by  accident,  for  nearly 
as  many  of  the  same  class  are  on  paper.  These  American 
parchments  properly  come  under  the  same  general  rules  of 
classification  as  manuscripts  on  paper;  and  special  considera- 
tion of  them  beyond  a  few  questions  of  preservation  and  stor- 
age may  be  rightfully  ignored.  Our  interest  is  with  the  sec- 
ond class,  generally  denominated  by  European  archivists  as 
"documents,"  Here  in  America  we  have  become  accus- 
tomed to  considering  as  "documents"  the  official  printed  pub- 
lications of  State  and  Federal  authority,  which  results  in  a 
confusion  of  terms  that  some  day  may  prove  vexatious. 

What  we  call  manuscripts,  then,  are  to  be  divided  roughly 
into  two  classes :  Official  and  Personal. 

5.  Official  manuscripts  are  legislative  acts,  commissions, 
estimates,  land  grants,  memoranda,  messages,  military  rolls 
and    returns,    orders,    patents,    proceedings,    proclamations, 


8  UBRARV    OF   CONGRESS 

5 — Continued. 
reports,  resolves,  etc.  Personal  papers  are  correspondence, 
drafts  of  letters,  letter-books,  memoranda,  personal  financial 
accounts,  etc. ;  but  where  the  papers  are  those  of  a  public  man 
the  line  of  demarcation  between  personal  and  official  is  often 
shadowy  in  the  extreme.     (See  Cataloguing.) 

6.  Official  papers  under  the  control  of  the  archivist  come  to 
him  usually  with  an  arrangement  and  indexing  born  of  admin- 
istrative necessity,  and  in  no  wise  competent  to  answer  the 
needs  of  the  historical  investigator.  Useless  and  faulty  as 
such  an  arrangement  may  be  for  students  of  history  and  eco- 
nomics, it  is  well  to  allow  it  to  stand  until  such  time  as  the 
rearrangement  scheme  has  been  thoroughly  worked  out  and 
its  application  to  the  papers  can  be  carried  through  without 
interruption  or  delay.  The  official  indexes  or  finding-list 
catalogues  of  such  collections  should  always  be  preserved  no 
matter  how  useless  they  may  seem  after  the  rearrangement  of 
the  papers.  If  these  indexes  are  bulky  and  space  consuming 
they  may  be  condensed  by  a  group  classification  or  outline 
record,  for  archival  consultation,  before  being  sent  to  the  stor- 
age basement.  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  leave  their  destruc- 
tion to  the  next  generation. 

7.  Official  papers  transferred  to  the  archive  bureau  from 
governmental  files  should  be  papers  whose  administrative 
value  has  disappeared  and  that  are  officially  dead — i.  ej,  papers 
that  actual  practice  has  shown  are  never  consulted  for  admin- 
istrative purposes.  Control  over  such  papers  is  undesirable, 
for  there  can  be  no  right  nor  claim  of  historical  investigator 
not  legitimately  overridden  by  administrative  need;  and, 
where  this  need  continues  to  exist,  its  interference  would 
result  in  practically  transforming  the  archive  bureau  into  an 
adjunct  of  the  department  from  which  the  files  came. 


NOTES    ON    THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS  9 

8.  Personal  papers  of  an  individual  may  come  into  the  hands 
of  the  archivist  untouched,  or  having  suffered  but  slight  de- 
rangement. In  such  cases  the  existing  arrangement  should 
be  studied  carefully  before  the  necessary  archival  rearrange- 
ment is  begun.  The  first  handling  of  a  mass  of  manuscripts 
is  often  most  important  and  needs  the  ripe  judgment  and 
trained  hands  of  the  experienced  archivist.  By  carefully 
skimming  through,  taking  care  not  to  disarrange  in  the  sHght- 
est,  a  general  grasp  of  the  collection  may  be  obtained  which 
will  aid  greatly  to  proper  decisions  later.  In  every  collection 
there  are  misplaced,  wrongly  dated  and  undated  documents, 
unsigned  memoranda,  inclosures,  and  apparently  disconnected 
papers,  that  require  careful  consideration,  as  it  is  a  prime 
archival  duty  to  reduce  the  unidentified  manuscripts  in  every 
collection  to  the  least  possible  number.  This  consideration 
is  valuable  in  direct  proportion  to  the  knowledge,  experience, 
and  "manuscript  sense"  of  the  one  who  arranges  the  collec- 
tion. To  the  trained  archivist,  any  original  arrangement  (and 
by  "original"  is  meant  the  one  untouched  since  the  growth  of 
the  papers  terminated)  no  matter  how  faulty  from  an  archival 
viewpoint,  is  replete  with  hints  of  value  to  the  final  archival 
arrangement  and  the  dating  and  identifying  of  the  miscellany 
of  the  collection.  But  once  this  original  continuity,  whatever 
it  be,  becomes  disturbed  by  untrained  hands,  valuable  and 
time-saving  clues  are  destroyed,  the  loss  of  which  will  necessi- 
tate the  expenditure  of  hours  of  expert  research  otherwise 
avoidable.  Of  course,  where  papers  are  received  in  a  con- 
fused mass,  having  been  pawed  over  and  tossed  about  until 
all  semblance  of  an  order  is  lacking,  much  of  the  preHminary 
and  time-consuming  work  can  be  performed  by  less  expert 
hands  before  the  undivided  attention  of  the  archivist  is 
necessary. 

20820 — 13 2 


lO  UBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

9.  An  elemental  suggestion  here  for  the  actual  handling  of 
disarranged  papers  may  prove  of  assistance.  In  arranging 
chronologically  a  large  mass  of  disordered  manuscripts,  time, 
labor,  and  space  will  be  saved,  first  by  grouping  them  in 
decades,  then  by  years;  next,  group  each  year  into  quarters 
and  from  thence  work  down  to  the  individual  months ;  the  days 
of  the  month  may  be  grouped  by  tens  as  a  preliminary  step  to 
the  daily  sequence.  This  may  seem  an  unnecessarily  frequent 
handling  of  the  same  papers;  but  the  divisions  are  easy  to 
control  and  the  speed  with  which  one  works  under  this  system 
will  be  found  to  be  nearly  double  that  of  other  methods. 
Much  time  will  also  be  saved  if,  on  the  first  handling,  every 
manuscript  dated  on  the  verso  or  elsewhere  than  the  upper 
right-hand  corner  is  redated  in  that  corner  with  a  medium  soft, 
fine-pointed  pencil. 

10.  Arrangement. — Under  ideal  conditions  no  arrangement 
of  papers  would  be  attempted  until  the  collection  is  card  cata- 
logued; but  pressure  of  investigator  and  ardor  of  historian 
seldom  justify  withholding  an  entire  collection  from  use  pend- 
ing such  work;  and  cataloguing  and  calendaring  must  fre- 
quently wait  upon  arrangement.  In  this  work  of  arrangement 
the  training,  experience,  and  knowledge  of  the  archivist  enable 
him  to  settle  many  vexatious  questions,  unaided  by  the  data 
later  accumulated  from  classifying  and  combining  the  cards 
of  the  properly  catalogued  collection.  And  here  comes  in  that 
intangible  something,  difiicult  to  describe,  impossible  to  incul- 
cate, but  ardently  to  be  desired  as  a  characteristic  of  every 
archivist,  a  "manuscript  sense.''  It  may  be  called  a  feeling, 
that  amounts  to  sympathy,  a  respect  for  the  frail  page  that 
induces  a  natural  gentleness  and  care  in  handling;  it  nourishes 
an  instinct,  a  sixth  sense,  that,  more  often  than  not,  prompts 
a   recognition   of   the   unidentified   manuscript   before   close 


NOTES   ON   THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         II 

1 0 — Contimied. 
scrutiny  and  knowledge;  it  pushes  forward  suggestions  of 
value  that  have,  at  the  moment,  no  apparent  basis  of  reason 
and  smooths  many  difficulties  in  a  manner  comprehended, 
but  not  entirely  understood.  It  is  quite  possible  to  be  a  good 
archivist  without  this  "manuscript  sense,"  which,  after  all, 
may,  with  a  show  of  reason,  be  classed  as  imagination;  but 
the  man  who  possesses  it  will  always  be  just  a  little  better 
archivist  than  the  one,  no  matter  how  good,  in  whom  it  is 
lacking. 

11.  Collection  or  group  arrangement  is  entirely  dependent 
upon  the  geography  of  the  storage  space  at  disposal  and  the 
frequency  of  consultation  of  the  group.  Where  the  archi- 
tectural arrangements  have  been  specially  designed  for 
archives,  under  the  direction  of  the  archivist,  the  matter  is 
simple;  but  such  conditions  are  rare  in  America  as  yet.  To 
work  out,  under  the  usual  restricted  conditions,  a  consistent, 
coherent  scheme  for  many  large  groups  of  manuscripts,  and 
apply  it  with  logical  rigidity  wall  generally  result  in  a  daily 
waste  of  time  of  both  investigator  and  archival  force.  No 
matter  how  desirable  or  satisfactory  such  arrangement  may 
be  in  theory,  in  practice  its  main  element  will  prove  to  be  that 
of  great  physical  inconvenience  and,  unless  more  shelf  space 
is  allowed  for  expansion  than  usually  can  be  spared,  the  entire 
archival  collection  will  have  to  be  shifted  periodically  as  a 
result  of  unexpected  and  uneven  growth.  The  thing  to  re- 
member is  that  the  classification  arrangement  must  depend 
entirely  upon  the  manuscripts,  and  that,  to  a  large  extent, 
the  archivist  must  submit  to  be  ruled  by  his  material.  Any 
attempt  to  force  manuscripts  into  classification  schemes  simi- 
lar to  that  of  books  means  disaster.  Flexibility,  far  beyond 
the  capabilities  of  book  classification,  is  an  absolute  necessity. 


12  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

11 — Continued. 
To  evolve  a  logically  perfect  scheme  of  manuscript  classifica- 
tion based  upon  the  individual  folio  or  document  is  beyond 
utilitarian  limits,  and  to  insist  upon  rigid  group  classification 
is  to  restrict  unnecessarily  the  working  efficiency  of  the 
archive  bureau.  The  difference  between  the  subject  matter 
of  letters  and  documents  and  that  of  books,  as  well  as  the 
ph^^sical  aspect  of  the  material,  would  demand  an  excess  of  clas- 
sification detail  embarrassing  to  the  point  of  ineffectiveness. 

12.  Arrangement  of  individual  manuscripts  within  the  vari- 
ous collections  should  be  the  simplest  possible;  the  test  and 
almost  the  sole  governing  idea  should  be  that  of  ease  and 
certainty  in  finding.  (See  under  Mechanics  of  Arrangement) . 
Easy  as  it  is  to  misplace  books  in  large  libraries  and  difficult 
as  it  sometimes  is  to  find  them,  because  of  some  slight  inad- 
vertence in  handling,  the  difficulty  in  the  case  of  manuscripts 
is  increased  tenfold  and  only  the  simplest  arrangement  can 
reduce  the  chance  of  inadvertence  to  the  minimum. 

13.  The  group  arrangement  of  the  Library  of  Congress, 
whose  collections  are  largely  Americana,  may  be  of  interest 
and  use  as  a  study  though  seldom  applicable  to  other  collec- 
tions. This  arrangement,  outside  of  the  large  groups  of 
Personal  papers  of  great  Americans,  may  be  generally  termed 
a  chronologic-geographic  one.  It  follows  the  sequence  of 
events  from  the  discovery  of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  through 
exploration  and  settlement,  as  naturally  developed:  First, 
the  West  Indies,  Spanish  America,  Mexico,  Central  and  South 
America  general,  then  by  countries  in  their  geographical 
divisions  and  strictly  chronological  within  these  divisions; 
then  North  America,  the  grouping  therein  being  the  British, 
French,  Spanish,  and  other  colonies.  This  group  arrange- 
ment carries  through  the  general  miscellany  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, all  the  manuscripts  being  of  such  a  general  nature  as  not 


NOTES    ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         1 3 

13 — Continued. 
to  belong  clearly  to  any  of  the  original  13  Colonies.  With 
the  assembling  of  the  First  Continental  Congress  the  mis- 
cellany of  the  Revolution  begins  its  chronological  order,  which 
includes  all  those  manuscripts  created  by  the  activities  of  the 
general  confederation  of  the  Colonies  and  not  clearly  emanating 
from  any  particular  one.  The  Papers  of  the  Continental 
Congress  form  a  distinct  group  within  this  general  scheme. 
After  them,  each  of  the  13  States  has  its  own  strict  chrono- 
logical order,  which  conveniently  ignores  the  Revolution  as  a 
period.  After  the  Revolutionary  group  is  the  period  of  the 
Confederation  (1783-1789)  and  the  "United  States,  miscel- 
laneous" from  the  latter  date  on.  The  individual  States, 
other  than  the  original  thirteen,  have  each  its  own  chrono- 
logical arrangement,  and  the  Personal  Papers,  beginning  with 
the  noble  series  of  the  papers  of  the  Presidents,  and  following 
in  the  order  of  the  administrations,  are  arranged  by  groups 
with  the  single  purpose  of  convenience  in  handling.  Other 
groups  are  those  of  Indians,  Orderly  Books,  Journals  and 
Diaries,  Mercantile  Accounts,  the  Army,  the  Navy  (under 
these  last  two  groups  naturally  fall  the  strictly  military  and 
naval  operations  of  the  various  wars,  the  civic  activities  of 
which  are  classified  under  the  proper  Federal  executive 
departments — see  Mechanics  of  Arrafigement) ,  Marine  Mis- 
cellany, Great  Britain,  the  foreign  countries,  and  other  clean 
cut  and  logically  natural  groups.  The  arrangement  within 
each  of  these  groups  is  strictly  chronological;  when  one  or 
more  of  them  expands  to  the  point  where  internal  subdivision 
becomes  necessary  for  utility  in  handling,  a  chronological 
order  still  obtains  within  the  new  subdivisions. 

14.  Mechanics  of  arrangement. — One  thing  ever  to  be  kept 
in  mind,  let  it  be  repeated,  is  the  necessity  of  arranging  indi- 
vidual manuscripts  within  groups  in  such  order  as  to  insure 


14  LIBRARY   OF    CONGRESS 

14 — Continued. 
prompt  accessibility  to  every  document.  Whatever  the 
needs  of  the  historian  or  student  who  consults  the  papers,  the 
one  requisite  of  prompt  accessibility  is  common  to  all  and 
should  not  for  a  moment  be  forgotten.  Experience,  and  by  this 
is  meant  not  the  experience  of  the  investigator  or  user  of  the 
manuscripts,  but  of  the  archivist,  the  actual  curator  of  the 
documents,  who  is  called  upon  dozens  of  times  a  day  to  locate 
and  produce  individual  papers  and  who  alone  fully  compre- 
hends the  difficulties  of  the  task,  has  demonstrated  that  the 
strict  chronological  arrangement  by  years,  months,  and  days 
is  the  only  perfectly  satisfactory  one.  It  presents  a  complete 
picture  of  the  daily  course  of  events  as  the  life  of  the  past  was 
lived;  it  satisfies  the  instincts  of  the  investigator  by  placing 
the  records  before  him  in  unbroken  sequence  of  time;  it 
reduces  the  chances  of  misplacement  of  the  single  manu- 
script to  the  minimum,  largely  obviates  unnecessary  handling 
of  the  papers,  throws  all  the  undated  material  into  one  place 
and  eases  the  mind  of  the  historian,  as  no  other  grouping  can, 
by  assuring  him  that  he  has  not  overlooked  anything  through 
failure  to  consider  all  of  the  possible  heads  under  which  papers 
might  be  grouped  in  subjective  or  other  classifications. 
Chronology  of  his  subject  is  the  point  with  which  the  inves- 
tigator is  always  thoroughly  familiar,  and  an  honest  criticism 
or  complaint  is  yet  to  be  lodged  against  the  chronological 
order  when  strictly  adhered  to.  By  "strictly"  is  meant 
absolutely.  Inclosures  are  separated  from  their  inclosing  docu- 
ments, if  the  dates  require  it,  proper  notation  being  made 
upon  the  mounting  sheet  where  the  manuscript  is  mounted 
or,  where  unmounted,  on  the  verso  of  the  document  itself 
with  a  medium  soft,  fine-pointed  lead  pencil;  the  list  of 
inclosures  on  the  main  document  and  the  main  document 
upon  the  inclosures.     Thus  in  a  letter  from  Horatio  Gates  to 


NOTES   ON  THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         1 5 

14 — Continued. 
George  Washington  dated  1777,  October  i,  may  be  two 
inclosures;  one,  1777,  September  15,  from  the  Albany  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  to  Gates;  another,  1777,  September  7,  from 
Arnold  to  Schuyler;  the  notation  would  be,  on  the  Gates 
letter  to  Washington: 

Inclosures:  1777,  Sep.  7.     Arnold  to  Schuyler. 

Sep.  15.     Albany  Committee  to  Gates. 

and  on  the  Arnold  and  Albany  letters : 

Inclosed  in:  1777,  Oct.  i.     Gates  to  Washington. 
The  catalogue  cards  would,  of  course,  give  this  information 
when  every  single  manuscript  under  the  archivist's  care  is 
represented  by  a  card;  but,  desirable  as  this  is  and  devoutly, 
as  it  may  be  wished,  it  is  as  often  not  so  as  otherwise;  and  in 
any  event  the  historical  investigator  justly  complains  of  being 
forced  to  turn  from  manuscripts  to  cards  and  back  again  for 
information  that  should  properly  appear  with  the  manuscript 
itself.     Again,  an  archivist  seldom  has  a  sufficient  force  of 
assistants  to  complete  with  rapidity  the  work  of  handling 
large  masses  of  material.     There  are  always  arrears,  and  there 
are  apt  to  be  formidable  accessions,  perhaps  the  papers  of  a 
prominent  public  man  or  the  transfer  of  an  old  official  file, 
minus  all  semblance  of  an  index.     Either  accession  may  mean 
a  collection  of  from    10   to    100,000   separate   manuscripts, 
and  the  time  necessary  to  card  such  a  collection  properly, 
with   a  force  of  but   two   or   three  assistants,   would   con- 
sume weeks  even  if   there  were  no  other  archival  work  to 
be  done.     Such  accessions  may  occur  monthly  or  oftener. 
Obviously  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  withhold  papers  from 
consultation  by  responsible  historians  until  such  time  as  they 
can  be  catalogued.     Manuscripts  should  be  available  for  the 
historian's  use  as  soon  as  arranged.     Under  the  chronological 


1 6  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

14 — Continued. 
order  he  can  work  as  easily  and  surely  without  cards  as  with 
them;  and,  indeed,  the  experienced  investigator,  studying  a 
personage,  movement,  or  period  and  not  wishing  merely  to 
verify  a  single  detail,  seldom  uses  the  cards  beyond  the  point 
of  obtaining  therefrom  his  bearings.  Their  value  to  him  is 
relatively  slight  compared  with  their  importance  as  an 
archival  record. 

15.  Undated  papers  to  which  dates  can  not  be  given  should 
be  placed  at  the  end  of  the  dated  material,  i.  e.,  papers  lacking 
date  entirely,  at  the  end  of  the  entire  collection.  Those  dated 
with  the  year  only,  after  December  31  of  that  year;  those 
dated  with  the  year  and  month,  but  not  the  day,  at  the  end  of 
the  month.  In  each  of  these  places  an  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment of  the  undated  pieces  will  prove  an  additional  conven- 
ience in  identification.  As  this  is,  in  the  main,  a  brief  discus- 
sion of  what  to  do  rather  than  what  not  to  do,  the  many 
faulty  arrangements  possible  need  not  be  considered.  There 
are,  however,  three  that  should  be  specially  warned  against. 
First,  any  attempt  to  place  letter  and  answer  together;  second, 
because  of  its  seeming  allurements,  the  division  ot  a  collection 
of  personal  papers  into  letters  from  and  letters  to;  and  third, 
any  grouping  based  upon  the  subject-matter  of  the  manu- 
scripts. The  objections  to  the  first  are  too  obvious  to  need 
mention;  the  second  uselessly  duplicates  the  internal  arrange- 
ment, increases  fourfold  the  liability  of  misplaced  manuscripts, 
doubles  the  time  necessary  to  arrange  the  collection,  leaves 
the  unidentified  miscellany  well-nigh  hopelessly  stranded  as  to 
position,  and  to  archivist  and  investigator  alike  forever 
remains  an  exasperation.  It  is  apparently  a  most  convenient 
arrangement  for  the  study  of  the  writings  of  an  individual, 
but  is  not  entirely  dependable  or  satisfactory  even  in  such  case. 


NOTES    ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         1 7 

1 5 — Continued. 
Against  this  one  need  fulfilled  are  dozens  of  others,  arising 
daily,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  biography  and  of  his- 
tory, equally  important,  for  which  the  arrangement  is  the 
most  inconvenient  possible.  The  physical  difficulty  of  con- 
sulting two  distinct  sets  of  the  same  papers  at  the  same 
time  distracts  the  attention  and  seriously  hampers  inclusive 
research,  while  it  unnecessarily  demands  double  the  amount 
of  labor  from  the  archival  force.  The  third,  or  subjective 
grouping  of  manuscripts,  is  an  especially  deplorable  arrange- 
ment. Manuscript  letters  or  documents  treating  entirely  of 
one  subject  are  rare,  and  the  basis  of  the  subjective  arrange- 
ment is  shifted  at  the  very  beginning  from  the  historical 
information  in  the  manuscripts  to  the  judgment  of  the 
classifier  respecting  that  information.  Nothing  is  more 
bitterly  resented  by  the  historical  investigator  than  inter- 
vention of  any  kind  between  himself  and  his  original  sources, 
and  the  resentment  is  justifiable.  A  subjective  arrangement 
can  be  nothing  but  a  series  of  compromises,  than  which  a 
quicksand  is  not  more  shifting,  and  it  is  precisely  this  lack  of 
stability  that  justly  renders  it  an  object  of  suspicion.  Any 
scheme  of  arrangement  that,  like  the  subjective  one,  compels 
argumentative  consideration  in  the  placing  of  documents 
contains  in  that  one  fact  ample  reason  for  its  rejection. 

16.  Ofjkial  papers. — In  arranging  a  large  mass  of  official 
papers,  the  logical  method  of  a  chronological  order  under  the 
various  departments  and  bureaus  of  Government  from  which 
they  emanate  is  best,  e.  g.,  in  the  case  of  Federal  and  State 
Governments,  the  United  States,  and  State  constitutional 
divisions  of  the  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  branches, 
with  their  major  subdivisions,  are  amply  sufficient  to  care  for 
20820 — 13 3 


1 8  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

16 — Continued. 
any  large  deposit.  The  minuteness  of  this  classification  will, 
of  course,  depend  upon  the  size  of  the  collection;  ordinarily 
the  main  divisions  only  of  the  three  coordinate  branches  need 
be  considered.  Where  there  are  only  a  hundred  or  so 
manuscripts,  however,  representing  almost  as  many  subdi- 
visions and  bureaus,  it  is  wise  to  ignore  a  classification  more 
complex  than  the  material  itself  and  arrange  the  papers  in 
one  chronological  order,  working  out  the  governmental  classi- 
fication, if  need  be,  in  the  card  catalogue. 

17.  Where  the  nature  of  the  manuscript  is  unvarying,  as  in 
proclamations,  commissions,  military  returns,  etc.,  they  can 
be  grouped  conveniently  according  to  their  natural  class;  but, 
except  in  the  case  of  commissions  which  are  so  distinctively 
personal  as  to  fall  naturally  into  an  alphabetical  order, 
chronology  should  rule  in  each  group.  For  military  returns 
in  great  numbers  the  most  satisfactory  arrangement  is  chrono- 
logically by  organization,  brigade,  regiment,  and  company 
(battalion  reports,  if  any,  should  be  ignored  and  classed  under 
the  regiment) ;  the  general  returns  of  corps,  divisions,  and  the 
whole  army  to  be  treated  in  the  same  way.  Military  orders, 
however,  should  ignore  everything  beyond  the  department  or 
army  from  which  they  emanate,  and  be  arranged  in  strict 
chronological  order,  which  will  be  the  same  as  their  numerical 
sequence,  if  they  were  officially  numbered  as  issued. 

18.  Orderly  books,  later  superseded  by  the  general  and  other 
orders  in  printed  form,  military  and  other  journals  and  diaries 
should  be  arranged  on  the  shelves  in  strict  chronological  order 
according  to  the  first  date  in  the  books;  the  inevitable  over- 
lapping of  dates  is  of  small  moment. 

19.  Bound  volumes. — Manuscript  material  in  the  original 
binding,  such  as  registers,  minute  books  of  proceedings,  finan- 


NOTES    ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         1 9 

1 9 — Continued, 
cial  ledgers,  letter  books,  etc.,  present  no  difficulties  of  arrange- 
ment, the  physical  bulk,  size  of  the  individual  volumes,  and 
frequency  of  consultation  largely  governing  in  all  such  cases. 
In  original  bindings  the  volumes  are  apt  either  to  be  unlet- 
tered, or  lettered  with  strange  inconclusiveness  as  to  con- 
tents; especially  is  this  apt  to  be  the  case  in  old  Spanish  and 
French  volumes  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
(See  under  Cataloguing.)  Where  the  volume  is  unlettered  it 
is  necessary  to  paste  (not  glue)  small  stickers  to  the  back,  with 
symbols  sufficient  to  render  identification  easy.  The  objection 
to  this  from  a  sentimental  standpoint  is  strong ;  but  the  time 
saved  in  locating  needed  volumes  is  a  stronger  necessity.  The 
stickers  may  be  of  a  neutral  tint,  small  in  size,  and  affixed 
with  some  regard  for  the  original  appearance  of  the  volumes. 

20.  The  numbering  question. — To  number  original  manu- 
scripts or  manuscript  volumes  is  both  unwise  and  impracti- 
cable. An  attempt  to  apply  schemes  similar  to  those  of  book 
classifications  will  speedily  be  found  impracticable.  Numbers 
upon  a  manuscript  are  a  disfigurement;  they  intrude,  unex- 
pectedly, upon  its  vaHdity;  they  violate  its  sanctity  as  the 
advertisement  placard  violates  that  of  an  ancient  tree  and  in  a 
small  collection  are  of  no  additional  aid  to  identification.  In  a 
large  one  the  digits  increase  so  rapidly  as  to  become  unwieldy 
and  obstructive.  Nor  is  it  wise  to  disfigure  single  manuscripts 
by  labels  or  "stickers."  This  is  sometimes  done,  but  should 
be  frowned  upon,  as  the  prime  duty  of  the  archivist  is  the 
inviolate  preservation  of  the  material  in  his  charge,  and  any 
interference  with  this,  any  increase  of  wear  and  tear,  any 
weakening  of  the  manuscript,  tends  to  shorten  the  life  of  the 
paper. 


20  LIBRARY    OF   CONGRESS 

21.  Miscellany. — It  is  in  arranging  the  miscellany  that  most 
of  the  difficulties  arise.  Large,  natural  collections,  i.  e.,  col- 
lections accumulated  during  the  life  activities  of  an  indi- 
vidual, or  the  daily  official  routine  of  a  bureau  or  department, 
present  few  difficulties  compared  with  those  of  the  single, 
disconnected  paper  or  a  mass  of  unrelated  documents  such  as 
would  represent  the  activities  of  the  autograph  collector.  The 
lone  letter,  the  solitary  indenture,  memorandum,  commission, 
deed,  etc.,  papers  sometimes  valuable  historically  and  nearly 
always  interesting  autographically,  tempt  the  archivist  to  a 
trial  of  the  subjective  or  alphabetical  arrangements.  Occa- 
sionally either  of  these  may  be  permissible;  but  use  of  the 
papers  by  investigators  will  demonstrate  infallibly  the  ne- 
cessity of  representing  an  alphabetized  or  subjective  group 
by  a  chronological  card  arrangement.     (See  under  Cataloguing.) 

22.  Personal  papers. — There  is  but  one  arrangement  possi- 
ble for  the  personal  papers  of  an  individual  or  family — the 
chronological.  In  the  case  of  scientists  or  literary  personages 
this  rule  may  not  be  so  absolute;  but  for  statesmen,  politi- 
cians, soldiers,  etc.,  the  exceptions  are  nonexistent. 

23.  Storage  devices. — The  various  mechanical  devices  for 
storing  manuscripts  are  as  many  as  the  personal  crotchets  of 
archivists.  Boxes,  slide  cases,  and  portfolios,  of  innumerable 
pattern  and  design,  are  in  use,  and,  so  long  as  each  provides 
ample  protection,  ease  of  access,  and  economy  of*  space,  a 
choice  among  them  may  be  indifferent.  Only  the  usual  manu- 
script folio  document  is  considered  here ;  for  papers  of  unusual 
proportion  special  provisions  are  necessar}^,  discussion  of  which 
would  be  tedious.     The  devices  here  described  have  the  merit 


NOTES   ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         21 

23 — Continued. 
of  simplicity  and  inexpensiveness  and  are  given,  not  because 
they  are  the  only  ones  practicable,  but  solely  because  of  these 
two  qualities  in  addition  to  the  three  fundamentals  before 
mentioned. 

Manuscripts  should  be  stored  flat,  never,  under  any  circum- 
stances, rolled  up  or  folded  into  the  diabolical  old-fashion  filing 
cabinet.  One  fold  in  a  manuscript  is  a  step  from  the  path  of 
righteousness,  two  a  misdemeanor,  while  three  should  be 
classed  with  felony.  Where  papers  are  too  large  to  be  stored 
when  opened  to  their  original  size,  they  should  be  deliberately 
cut  (with  straightedge  and  knife,  never  with  scissors)  to  such 
size  as  is  most  practicable  and  at  the  same  time  necessitating 
the  least  number  of  cuts;  should  then  be  hinged  with  light- 
weight tracing  linen  (see  under  Repairs)  and  folded  flat  to  the 
size  desired.  The  reason  for  this  apparent  brutality  is  that 
the  size  of  the  manuscript  necessitates  folding  in  any  event 
and,  sooner  or  later,  it  would  break  in  the  folds ;  so  it  is  better 
to  make  a  clean  cut  between  lines  and  fully  protect  the  manu- 
script with  a  hinge.  To  allow  it  to  wear  out  with  time  and 
usage  risks  the  destruction  of  two  or  more  lines  of  writing. 
Manuscripts  should  never  be  placed  in  envelopes;  there  is  no 
other  device  so  well  calculated  to  reduce  them  to  tatters  in 
the  shortest  possible  time  as  putting  in  and  taking  out  from 
an  envelope.  An  inexpensive  method  of  storing  is  in  pack- 
ages of  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness, 
in  double  folders  of  manila  paper,  stout  enough  to  be  stiff, 
yet  not  so  stiff  as  to  be  difficult  to  handle.  These  folders 
should  be  cut  to  the  size  approximating  the  usual  folio 
sheet  of  manuscript  (about  17  by  i3>^  inches,  with  the  grain 


22 


UBRARY    OF    CONGRESS 


23 — Contimied. 
of  the  paper  running  with  the 
fit  the  thickness  of  the  package 


3>^  dimension)  and  folded  to 
hus: 


They  are  then  placed  around  the  manuscripts  and  tied  with 
broad  tape,  a  convenient  tie  being  shown: 


1  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^»     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

• yir ^vrz: — -' 


NOTES   OX   THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS 


23 


23 — Continued. 

This  gives  a  fairly  uniform  appearance  on  the  shelves  and 
amply  protects  the  manuscripts.  Dust  accumulation  in  the 
open  ends  is  negligible.  The  advantages  of  this  method  are 
its  inexpensiveness  and  protection;  its  disadvantages  are 
easily  seen.  Very  little  use  of  the  papers  destroys  the  protec- 
tive quality  of  the  folder  and  renders  it  unsightly,  the  manu- 
scripts become  disarranged  and  as  the  packages  must  be  laid 
flat,  never  more  than  three  in  a  pile,  there  is  a  waste  of  shelf 
room.  A  step  forward  is  to  have  the  portfolios  made  of  stiff, 
cheap  tar  or  clay  board  with  stiff  backs,  hinged  with  binders' 
cloth,  of  the  same  dimensions  as  the  manila  folders  plus  i^ 
inches  for  the  flat-back  hinge,  and  a  pair  of  tie  tapes : 


These  portfolios  will,  of  course,  outwear  a  hundred  of  the 
manila  folders,  but  are  otherwise  open  to  the  same  objections; 
their  cost,  however,  at  wholesale  is  only  a  few  cents  each. 


24 


LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 


2  3 — Continued . 
A  step  farther  is  this  portfoHo  in  a  sHde-box  of  the  same 
material : 


Here  we  have  the  manuscripts  in  the  portfoHo  firmly 
gripped  by  the  tape  tie  and  such  a  pressure  of  the  box  that  the 
package  can  stand  upright  on  the  shelf  without  injury  to  the 
bottom  of  the  papers.  This  is  the  most  compact  form  for 
storing  loose  papers  and  is  the  last  word  before  the  regularly 
mounted  and  bound  collection.  To  place  each  manuscript  in 
a  separate,  thin  manila  folder  will  prove  rather  impracticable, 
except  where  the  collection  numbers  only  a  few  hundred 
pieces,  as  it  trebles  the  storage  bulk  and  the  additional  pro- 
tection is  not  sufficient  to  offset  the  extra  time  consumed  in 
storing  and  labeling.  Where  this  is  done,  however,  the  ma- 
nila folder  should  be  dated  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner,  year 
first,  then  month,  then  day:  1783,  June  21.  This  date  ar- 
rangement makes  for  easiest  finding;  in  the  center  of  the 


NOTES   ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         25 

2  3— Continued. 
folder  a  descriptive  word  or  two  should  be  added  to  obviate 
the  necessity  of  opening  any  but  the  desired  folder. 

24.  Cataloguing. — Briefly  stated,  the  catalogue  entry  for  a 
manuscript  consists  of  every  descriptive  or  bibhographic  detail 
except  the  calendar  or  brief  of  the  contents.  The  catalogue 
card  is  for  the  use  of  the  man  who  does  not  know,  not  for  the 
archival  expert  or  librarian.  Necessary  technicalities  should, 
therefore,  be  made  as  unobtrusive  as  possible.  A  convenient 
form  adapted  to  most  contingencies  is  the  following : 


1776     Hamilton,  A[lexander].  [Capt. 
[July  3]         New  YorK  artillery  company.] 

Harlem  Plains.    To  [Maj.]  Gen. 

[Charles]  Lee  [New  YorK]. 


A.  L.  S.  1  p.  40 

Location  ^) 


The  card  is,  of  course,  the  standard  library  size.  The  date 
in  the  upper  left-hand  corner  arranged  as  shown,  in  two  lines, 
without  punctuation  except  where  the  months  are  abbreviated. 
May,  June,  and  July  are  the  only  months  not  so  shortened, 
the  others  being  abbreviated   always  to  three  letters,  e.  g., 


26  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

24 — Continued . 
Apr.  Sep.  The  year  and  the  rubric  should  be  written  in  a 
bolder  and  heavier  hand;  the  indentation  of  the  second  and 
succeeding  lines  being  a  little  greater  than  that  of  the  rubric 
line  (see  also  under  Printing).  As  the  cards  written  for  the 
main  catalogue  will  take  their  places  among  entries  covering 
perhaps  the  entire  world,  it  will  be  found  that  to  follow  the 
individual's  name  with  a  brief  biographical  title,  in  brackets, 
such  as:  Statesman,  Politician,  Scientist,  Col.,  U.  S.  Army, 
etc.,  is  of  time-saving  value  to  both  investigator  and  archivist. 
After  the  name  of  author  or  writer  of  the  manuscript  and 
his  title,  there  follows  the  place  from  which  the  letter  or 
document  is  written ;  next  the  name  of  the  addressed,  preceded 
by  military  or  professional  title,  if  any;  then  the  place  where 
he  was  on  that  date,  if  it  is  of  sufficient  importance  and  can 
be  ascertained  without  undue  search.  Then  follows  the  cal- 
endar or  brief  of  the  contents  of  the  letter,  which  is,  however, 
omitted  from  a  catalogue  entry  card  (see  under  Calendar). 
The  physical  description  of  the  manuscript  comes  next, 
employing  for  this  purpose  the  accepted  symbols :  A.  1,.  S.  = 
autograph  letter  signed;  A.  L.  =  autograph  letter;  L.  S.  =  letter 
signed;  A.  D.  S.  =autograph  document  signed;  A.  D.  =  auto- 
graph  document;  D.  S.  =  document  signed;  A.  Df.  S.=  auto- 
graph draft  signed;  A.  Df.  =  autograph  draft;  Df.  S.  =  draft 
signed.  Occasionally  A.  N.  S.  =  autograph  note  signed,  and 
its  variants,  are  used;  but  this  is  a  refinement  more  confusing 
than  helpful.  The  number  of  pages  should  be  given,  i.  e., 
the  number  of  pages  occupied  by  the  letter  proper  only,  not 
counting  the  address  or  indorsements.  A  letter  that  runs 
over,  even  a  line  or  less,  on  the  verso  of  the  sheet  is  counted 
as  two  pages.  This  may  be  somewhat  misleading  to  the 
investigator,  but  its  value  to  the  archivist  as  an  accurate, 
stable  description  justifies  it.     The  size  of  the  sheet  on  which 


NOTES   ON   THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF  MANUSCRIPTS         27 

24 — Continued. 
the  letter  is  written  may  be  given  either  in  the  general  way : 
f°,  4*^,  8°,  etc.,  as  the  standard  sizes  of  writing  paper  of  the 
past  usually  run,  or  by  the  actual  measurements  in  centimeters 
if  preferred.  This  is  a  question  of  personal  preference,  exi- 
gency, and  time;  it  is  desirable  in  any  form.  Location  sym- 
bols, showing  where  the  manuscript  is  to  be  found,  should  be 
placed  in  the  lower  left-hand  corner  of  the  card.  Where  the 
manuscript  is  one  of  a  large  collection,  like  the  Alexander 
Hamilton  papers,  for  instance,  the  date  is,  of  course,  a  suffi- 
cient location  mark  in  the  chronological  order.  Hamilton's 
various  military  and  poHtical  titles  would  be  given  on  a 
card  of  biographical  memoranda  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Hamilton  cards,  and  not  monotonously  repeated  on  each 
entry.  The  location  of  the  collection  in  the  archives  will 
appear  here  also,  once  and  for  all. 

25.  All  supplied  information  is  inclosed  in  brackets,  the 
punctuation  following  the  idea  of  remaining  properly  placed 
if  the  brackets,  with  their  inclosures,  were  eUminated.  The 
value  of  accuracy  in  the  use  of  brackets  will  quickly  demon- 
strate itself;  they  present,  with  succinctness,  a  complete  and 
accurate  bibliographic  picture  of  the  manuscript,  which  is 
fundamentally  necessary  to  the  archival  record.  Information 
obtained  from  the  indorsement,  no  matter  by  whom,  is  "sup- 
phed  information,"  and  bracketed.  Where  the  abbreviated 
form  of  a  name  may  mislead,  e.  g.,  Abr.,  which  may  be  Abra- 
ham, Abram,  or  Abner,  it  should  be  spelled  out  in  brackets; 
but  it  is  obviously  foolish  to  bracket  Geo.  Geo[rge]  or  Thos. 
Tho[ma]s.  The  form  of  the  rubric  of  the  author  entry  varies 
under  different  considerations ;  if  the  card  is  to  be  filed  in  the 
general  catalogue  of  the  entire  mass  of  the  archival  collections, 
the  broad  consideration  should  govern;  e.  g.,  United  States, 
Executive,  President;  but  where  the  cards  of  a  specific  collec- 


2S  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

25 — Continued. 
tion  are  kept  together  this  lengthy  form  should  be  ignored. 
In  the  papers  of  one  man,  for  instance,  the  personal  viewpoint 
should  be  maintained  throughout,  and  Lincoln,  Abraham,  or 
Temple,  John  Henry,  Lord  Palmerston,  be  written  in  such  a 
way  as  not  to  sacrifice  easy  use  of  the  cards.  The  rubric  of 
the  author  entry  of  official  papers  in  the  main  catalogue 
depends  upon  the  department  of  the  civil  government  of  the 
State  from  which  they  emanate  and  not  upon  the  individual 
who  happens  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  department  at  that  par- 
ticular time;  e.  g.,  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  considered 
as  a  Government  document,  would  be  entered : 

1863     UNITED  vSTATES,  Executive,  President, 
Jan.  I     Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  .... 

The  cross  references  would  of  course  take  care  of  Emancipa- 
tion, Lincoln,  Proclamation,  etc.  In  like  manner  the  various 
executive  departments,  Navy,  State,  Treasury,  War,  etc., 
would  be  followed  through  the  executive  group  alphabetically, 
the  chronological  arrangement  within  each  group  preserving 
the  correct  order  of  administrations,  secretaries,  etc.  Where 
the  cards  are  locked  in  the  card  trays  and  there  is  no  chance 
of  disarrangement  by  investigators,  the  repetition  of  these 
long  headings  may  be  dispensed  with,  to  a  considerable  saving 
of  the  cataloguer's  time,  and  a  tab  card  substitute  be  placed 
at  the  head  of  each  divisional  group.  This  is  something  of  a 
risk,  however,  and  it  is  safer  to  compromise  by  abbreviations 
on  each  card.  The  question  of  abbreviations  on  the  catalogue 
or  calendar  card  is  a  vexed  one  and  may  safely  be  left  to  the 
personal  preference  of  the  archivist;  once  the  decision  is  made, 
consistency  alone  is  necessary.  Generally  stated,  the  use  of 
abbreviations  increases  the  liability  of  misapprehension  of 
the  entrv. 


NOTES   ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         29 

26.  In  cataloguing  volumes  of  manuscripts,  i.  e.,  not  the 
manuscript  contents  but  the  volume  itself  as  a  whole,  the  cat- 
aloguer is  not  bound  by  the  lettered  title,  especially  as  this  is 
often  misleading  and,  in  European  bindings  of  the  earlier  cen- 
turies, is  sometimes  downright  false.  Where  there  is  a  title- 
page,  which  is  not  often  the  case,  the  same  difficulty  exists. 
Here  the  cataloguer  must  be  at  liberty  to  select  his  own  title 
or  author  entry ;  but  he  should  always  quote  at  the  end  of  the 
bibliographic  description  the  exact  wording  of  the  original 
volume  lettering  or  title-page.  If  the  collection  of  unbound 
manuscripts  can  be  catalogued  before  arrangement,  a  sensible 
plan  would  be  to  number  temporarily  the  individual  docu- 
ments just  as  they  come,  with  a  soft,  fine-pointed  pencil  (so 
that  the  numbers  may  easily  be  erased  later)  and  catalogue 
them  in  the  same  order,  numbering  the  card  entries  to  corre- 
spond with  the  manuscripts.  The  arrangement  best  adapted 
to  the  papers  can  then  be  worked  out  w4th  the  cards  and  the 
manuscripts  quickly  arranged  by  reference  to  the  pencil 
numbers. 

27.  Calendars — of  manuscripts,  which  are  briefs  of  the  con- 
tents, following  the  catalogue  entry  and  preceding  the  bibli- 
ographic description,  are  the  best  means,  next  to  printing  in 
full,  of  presenting  all  the  salient  points  of  the  papers  to  the 
investigator.  The  time  and  expert  service  demanded  by  the 
work  of  compilation,  however,  renders  the  form  a  costly  one, 
and  at  best  it  can  be  no  more  than  a  guide,  elaborate  or  other- 
wise, to  the  documents.  Its  reason  for  being  is  that  its  fullness 
of  description  reduces  the  unnecessary  handling  of  the  manu- 
scripts to  a  minimum;  the  investigator  being  able,  with  its  aid, 
to  discard,  without  seeing  them,  all  papers  not  needed  for  his 
work.  This  elimination  is  a  most  decided  gain  in  the  preser- 
vation  of   the   material.     The  cost   of   calendaring  is  high, 


30  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

2  7 — Continited . 
because  of  the  necessary  time  consumed  in  it.  The  calendarer 
must  read,  and  read  carefully,  every  word  of  the  manuscript 
and  consider  the  statements  therein  before  composing  his 
brief;  in  addition  to  this  is  the  time  often  needed  for  research 
work  to  establish  proper  interpretation  of  indefinite  but  im- 
portant allusions  in  the  manuscript.  It  has  the  disadvan- 
tage too  of  being  tinctured  with  the  personality  of  the  calen- 
darer; for,  while  a  calendar  of  the  same  manuscript  by  two 
experts  would  record  the  same  major  subjects  of  the  docu- 
ment, these  would  be  presented  somewhat  differently  and, 
often  perhaps,  in  such  form  as  to  give  entirely  different  empha- 
sis to  the  same  fact;  the  variations  in  the  minor  subjects 
meanwhile,  showing  still  greater  differences.  For  this  reason 
it  is  unwise  to  entrust  the  calendaring  of  a  collection  to  more 
than  one  calendarer  as  the  editorial  labor  of  bringing  two  or 
more  viewpoints  into  conformity  for  indexing,  after  the  calen- 
dar entries  are  made,  would  mean  a  practical  rewriting  of  the 
entire  work,  with  consultation  of  the  original  manuscript  in 
every  case  of  doubt.  The  slightest  experiment  will  prove 
that,  even  with  the  most  learned  editing,  a  change  of  a  single 
phrase  or  sentence  of  a  calendar  entry  without  comparison 
with  the  manuscript  is  wholly  unsafe. 

28.  Calendaring. — The    most    convenient    and  most  easily 

managed  form  of  calendar  entry  states  the  subject  heads  of 

the  letter  or  document  in  the  order  in  which  they  appear 

therein  in  ^-hort  phrases  or  sentences  separated  by  semicolons. 

An  example  follows : 

Head  Qrs.  July  nth,  1782. 
Dr.  Sir, 

I  have  this  moment  received  a  Letter  from  Count  De  Ro- 
chambeau  (by  one  of  his  aides  in  five  days  from  Williams- 
burg) informing  me  that  he  is  oh  his  way  to  Phila — that  he 
will  be  there  the  13th  or  14th  &  wishes  an  interview  with  me — 


NOTES   ON   THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         3 1 

2  8 — Contintted. 

for  this  purpose  I  shall  set  out  in  the  Morning  very  early  & 
have  only  to  request  your  usual  attention. 

I  am  Dr  Sir 

Yr  most  Obedt.  Ser. 

Go:  Washington. 

P.  S.  I  entreat  that  great  diligence  may  be  used  in  manoeu- 
vreing  the  Troops — If  Genl.  Carleton  should  in  my  absence 
send  out  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  of  Lippencott  let  them 
be  forwarded  to  Head  Qrs  that  they  may  follow  me — accom- 
pany them  with  your  own  and  the  opinion  of  the  Genl.  officers 
whom  you  can  readily  consult  as  my  measures  must  be  taken 
so  soon  as  these  proceedings  come  to  hand — &  my  stay  in 
Philadelphia  for  aught  I  am  apprized  of  at  present  will  be 
very  short. 

Yrs  as  before 

Maj.  Genl.  Heath. 

The  calendar  of  the  foregoing  would  be: 

1782  Washington,  George.  [Newburgh.]  To  Maj.  gen. 
July  II  [William]  Heath  [Highlands].  Journey  to  Phila- 
delphia to  confer  with  Comte  de  Rochambeau; 
directions  respecting  the  receipt  of  trial  proceed- 
ings of  [Capt.  Richard]  Lippincott.  A.  Df.  S. 
2  pp.     4° 

This  may  be  expanded  as  follows: 

1782  W^ASHiNGTON,  Georgc.  [Newburgh].  To  Maj.  gen. 
July  1 1  [William]  Heath  [Highlands].  Comte  de  Rocham- 
beau on  his  way  to  Philadelphia;  Washington 
to  meet  him  there  for  a  conference;  sets  out  to- 
morrow; orders  troops  practiced  in  manouevers; 
proceedings  of  [Capt.  Richard]  Lippincott's  trial 
to  be  forwarded,  when  received,  with  opinion  of 
general  officers  thereon;  length  of  stay  in  Phila- 
delphia.    A.  Df.  S.     2  pp.     4° 

It  may  sometimes  be  possible  to  establish  a  series  of  single 
words  or  phrases  under  which,  according  to  the  character  of 


^2  LIBRARY    OF    CONGRESS 


o 

28 — ContifiTied. 
the  collection,  nearly  every  idea  occurring  in  the  papers,  or 
every  subject  treated  can  be  covered.     This  would  result  in  a 
condensation  of  the  above  entry  to  the  following: 

1782     Washington,     George.       [Newburgh.]       To    Heath 
July  II         [Highlands].     vStarts  for  Philadelphia;   conference 
with  Rochambeau;    Lippincott  trial  proceedings. 
A.  Df.  S.     2  pp.     4° 

The  first  of  these  forms  seems  preferable.  It  notes  the  facts 
W'ith  no  waste  of  words,  and  omits  nothing  of  importance. 
Rochambeau's  aid,  Williamsburg,  exercise  of  the  troops,  Carle- 
ton,  and  the  length  of  Washington's  stay  in  Philadelphia  are 
unimportant.  There  is  no  information  in  the  second  form  not 
indicated  as  existing  by  the  first,  and  the  investigator  does  not 
demand  and  would  not  accept  a  statement  of  historical  fact 
from  a  calendar  entry;  but  merely  requires  that  it  point  out 
to  him  the  original  document  containing  the  fact.  The  third 
form,  while  satisfactory  in  the  main  (here,  as  in  the  first  form, 
the  mere  order  to  exercise  the  troops  is  an  inconsequential 
matter  of  daily  routine,  and  the  opinion  of  the  general  officers 
on  Lippincott's  trial  of  little  consequence  until  given)  excites 
a  small  amount  of  distrust,  as  in  the  hands  of  a  hasty  calen- 
darer  such  extreme  condensation  may  easily  lead  to  an 
omission.  The  exceedingly  full  and,  for  the  purpose,  ad- 
mirable, calendars  of  the  British  State  Papers  are  but  once 
removed  from  verbatim  publications  of  entire  documents,  and 
vary  so  slightly  from  this  in  many  instances  that,  from  the 
standpoint  of  time  and  expense  of  publication,  they  amount 
to  the  same  thing,  and  so  need  not  be  considered  here.  They 
are,  however,  despite  a  somewhat  unnecessary  wordiness,  de- 
lightfully satisfactory  to  the  investigator,  who  has  neither  the 
time  nor  the  money  for  a  visit  to  England  or  copies,  and  for 
most  historical  work  they  are  practically  as  good  as  the  manu- 


NOTES   ON   THE    CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         33 

2  8  — Continued . 
scripts  themselves.  For  the  briefer  forms  used  here  the  point 
may  be  made  that  the  basic  idea  is  that  of  a  mere  index  guide 
to  the  contents  of  the  manuscripts.  On  this  principle  let  us 
consider  another  example  of  calendaring  in  the  following 
paragraph : 

The  wagonmaster  will  provide  teams  to  transport  200  barrels 
of  flour  to  Fishkill  Landing  and  load  the  same  upon  the  barges 
there,  but  I  fear  the  condition  of  the  ice  in  the  River  and  the 
leaky  state  of  the  boats  wall  prevent  them  crossing  to  West 
Point  before  Monday. 

Calendared  this  would  read:  Flour  for  West  Point;  condi- 
tion of  barges.  The  wagonmaster  performing  routine  work 
is  of  no  consequence,  especially  as  he  is  not  named;  Fishkill 
Landing  in  such  connection  even  less  so;  or  the  state  of  the 
river.  The  number  of  barrels  and  condition  of  the  barges 
will  be  looked  up  by  the  investigator,  if  he  is  interested  in 
either  flour  or  boats.  In  any  event,  the  things  to  be  known 
about  the  paragraph  are  that  West  Point,  flour,  and  barges 
are  mentioned  therein,  and  this  is  all  that  the  investigator 
demands  of  the  calendar.  If  he  is  interested  in  either  flour  or 
barges  or  West  Point  he  would  still  insist  on  reading  the 
manuscript  paragraph,  even  though  the  calendar  entry  men- 
tion the  number  of  barrels  and  that  the  barges  leaked.  A 
fuller  entry,  but  without  added  gain  to  the  investigator,  would 
be:  Flour  from  Fishkill  Landing  for  West  Point;  ice  in  the 
[Hudson]  river;  leaky  state  of  barges.  A  choice  is  a  matter 
of  personal  preference.  A  general  rule  for  calendaring  may 
thus  be  stated:  Note  the  subject  matters  treated  in  the  manu- 
script; but  ignore  the  treatment  of  them. 

29.  The  best  method  to  follow  in  calendaring  is  to  make  the 
index  entries  or  cross-references  at  the  same  time  that  the  cal- 


34  LIBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

2  9 — Con  tinned. 
cndar  entry  is  written,  instead  of  following  the  usual  book 
method  of  leaving  the  index  until  the  entire  work  is  completed. 
Indeed,  the  best  result  is  to  be  obtained  by  making  the  cross- 
references  from  the  original  ynanuscript  itself  and,  with  these 
as  a  basis,  to  construct  the  calendar  entry.  These  calendar 
or  main  entries  should  be  numbered  consecutively,  and  the 
cross-references  refer  to  this  number.  The  advantage  of  this 
plan  is  that  all  the  work  is  done  at  the  one  time  when  the  cal- 
endarer  is  most  familiar  with  the  manuscript  in  all  its  aspects, 
and  as  the  indexing  proceeds  with  the  calendaring  he  is  able 
to  establish  an  uniformity  of  phraseology  that  greatly  increases 
the  exactitude  and  clearness  of  the  work.  A  little  experience 
in  calendaring  and  the  subsequent  indexing  will  show  that, 
although  the  general  principles  of  book  or  running  text  index- 
ing hold  true,  the  entire  viewpoint  is  different,  the  attention 
to  detail  is  more  exacting,  and  scarcely  one  of  the  recognized 
forms  or  rules  can  be  applied  without  considerable  modifica- 
tion. An  ever-present  danger  in  calendaring  is  that  of  a  too 
hasty  reading  the  manuscript  to  be  briefed.  The  danger  of 
misconception  of  the  writer's  meaning  is  to  the  inexperienced 
considerable;  and  the  necessity  of  historical  knowledge,  sound 
judgment,  discrimination,  and  an  unbiased  mind  is  absolute. 
The  printed  book  assumes  that  the  reader  knows  nothing,  or 
(except  in  the  case  of  technical  works)  very  little  of  the  sub- 
jects discussed;  but  with  the  manuscript  letter  the  opposite  is 
the  case.  The  writer  knows  that  the  recipient  of  his  letter  is 
familiar  with  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  aspects  of  the  subjects 
he  mentions;  and  as  a  result  his  meaning,  clear  as  crystal  to 
the  correspondent  of  the  years  gone  by,  is  to-day  elusive  and 
often  difficult  of  exact  interpretation.  It  is  here  that  the 
archivist's  knowledge  and  training  count  most  heavily.  He 
should  be  able  to  project  himself  mentally  back  into  the  period 


NOTES   ON  THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         35 

29 — Continued. 
of  the  papers  he  is  calendaring;  to  revive  for  himself  something 
of  the  habits  of  thought  of  the  times.  With  knowledge  of  the 
trend  of  events,  personality  of  the  writers,  their  ambitions, 
struggles,  victories,  and  defeats,  he  is  able  to  grasp  more 
surely  the  tenor  of  the  written  words  and  more  nearly  to  trans- 
late the  thought  of  the  brain  behind  them.  It  will  be  found 
that  the  long  letter  is  generally  easier  to  calendar  than  the 
short ;  a  letter  of  four  folio  pages  can  often  be  calendared  in  as 
many  phrases,  while  one  of  barely  30  lines'  length  may  require 
a  dozen  sentences  or  more. 

30.  The  phrase-sequence  of  the  calendar  entry  is  the  same 
as  the  order  in  which  the  subjects  are  mentioned  in  the  manu- 
script. These  phrases  are  condensed  to  a  limit  consistent 
with  clear  and  accurate  statement,  and  in  themselves  partake 
of  the  character  of  index  entries;  the  result  is  that  the  index, 
or  cross-references  of  the  calendar,  form  practically  an  index 
of  an  index.  The  composition  of  these  two,  calendar  phrase 
and  index  word,  are  full  of  pitfalls  for  the  indexer  inexperienced 
in  such  work.  The  needs  to  be  supplied  by  these  entries  are 
quite  different  from  those  demanded  of  the  book  indexes. 
The  indexer  of  a  calendar  is  twice  removed  from  the  material 
he  is  indexing;  yet  the  index  should  reflect,  not  the  calendar 
entry  but  the  manuscript  itself.  The  calendar  phrase  is,  of 
course,  the  real  index  entry  of  the  manuscript,  and  in  its 
selection  the  calendarer  is  even  less  restricted  than  the  book 
indexer;  but  in  indexing  this  calendar  phrase  the  freedom 
vanishes,  and  an  uncompromising  rigidity  of  expression 
becomes  necessary.  Exercise  of  the  slightest  freedom  here 
will,  because  of  distance  from  the  original  material,  tend, 
almost  invariably,  to  mislead  the  user  of  the  calendar  by 
promising  more  than  the  original  manuscript  can  furnish. 
Again,  the  indexer  has  no  choice  but  to  consider  that  his 


36  I.IBRARY    OF   CONGRESS 

30 — Contintied. 
work  must  answer  a  thousand  different  historical  inquiries, 
each  one  equally  important  to  the  individual  investigator. 
It  is  this  comprehensiveness  that  makes  for  so  much  drudgery 
in  calendaring  work.  Every  manuscript,  '  no  matter  how 
trivial,  must  be  given,  relatively,  the  same  amount  of  atten- 
tion and  care.  The  editorial  privilege  of  ''selection"  does 
not  exist  in  such  work,  and  the  slightest  exercise  of  discrimi- 
nation is  to  be  deplored.  The  exclusion  of  all  unnecessary 
words  from  the  calendar  entry,  especially  if  the  calendar  is 
to  be  printed,  will  effect  a  considerable  saving  of  space  and 
cost  in  composition.  It  is  a  waste  of  words  to  start  the 
entry  with  such  expressions  as  "concerning,"  "relating  to," 
"respecting,"  etc.  In  the  body  of  the  entry  it  is  some- 
times necessary  to  use  them,  but  as  a  description  of  the 
contents  of  a  letter  or  document  they  are  worthless.  The 
letter  must  "relate  to"  or  be  "respecting"  something  or  it 
would  not  have  been  written,  and  to  continue  to  state  this 
obvious  fact  through  dozens  of  entries  is  obviously  absurd. 
In  like  manner  to  commence  the  entry  with  "Letter  to  .  .  ." 
is  unnecessary,  as  the  symbols  A.  L-  S.  or  A.  D.  S.  are  suffi- 
cient on  this  point. 

31.  Printing. — Where  the  calendar  is  to  be  printed,  certain 
mechanical  details  may  be  followed  to  advantage.  The  entry 
in  type  does  not  differ  from  the  form  already  given,  except 
that  the  year  and  catchword  should  be  printed  in  caps  or 
boldface  font.  If  the  indentation  after  the  rubric  line  is 
made  only  one  em  greater,  a  considerable  saving  in  composi- 
tion cost  will  be  effected.  In  making  a  calendar  which  is  to 
be  printed,  the  great  advantage  of  numbering  the  entries 
(the  number  to  be  in  boldface  type  at  the  end  of  the  last  line 
of  the  entry),  and  of  always  making  the  index  at  the  time  of 
writing    the   calendar   entries,    will    be    distinctly   felt.     The 


NOTES   ON    THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF   MANUSCRIPTS         37 

3 1 — Continued. 
index  cards,  of  thin  manila  paper,  should  be  filed  daily.  This 
is  tedious,  but  the  advantage,  as  well  as  the  relief  of  being 
able  to  send  the  complete  copy,  including  the  index,  to  the 
printer  all  at  once  is  obvious.  In  the  printed  form,  names  of 
prominent  personages  appearing  in  the  calendar  hardly  need 
bracketing  out  in  full  where  there  is  little  danger  of  confusion 
of  identity — as  of  Grant,  Lincoln,  Sumner,  etc.,  in  a  collection 
of  manuscripts  covering  the  Civil  War  period,  or  Wayne, 
Arnold,  Andre,  Gates,  etc.,  in  a  Revolutionary  collection. 
The  full  names  and  full  titles  would  appear,  properly  and 
once  for  all,  in  the  index;  but  in  the  calendar  entry  it  is  well 
to  prefix  military  and  naval  titles,  such  as  maj.  gen.,  rear 
adml.;  the  clergy,  Rev.,  the  President  and  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States,  Governors,  and  the  medical  Dr.  With 
minor  individuals,  however,  such  as  Smith,  Brown,  or  Jones, 
or  where  names  are  in  part  alike,  as  Maj.  Gen.  Nathanael 
Greene  and  Col.  Christopher  Greene,  the  Butlers  and  Howes 
of  the  Revolution,  distinctions  must  be  made  in  the  calendar 
entry  also. 

32.  Repairs. — Repair  work  of  any  important  character 
should  never  be  attempted  but  by  experienced  hands.  A 
wide  knowledge  of  paper,  the  kinds,  the  qualities,  the  effects 
of  age  and  of  accident,  and  its  behavior  under  every  condition 
is  necessary  before  one  is  justified  in  working  upon  a  manu- 
script of  value.  A  few  hints  of  a  general  nature,  however, 
may  safely  be  given,  but  with  the  distinct  understanding  that 
they  do  not  apply  in  any  way  to  parchments.  Every  manu- 
script should  be  cleaned  and  pressed ;  that  is,  all  the  wrinkles 
removed  and  smudgings  of  dirt  lessened.  To  accomplish 
this,  if  the  manuscript  is  very  much  begrimed,  but  the  paper 
still  retains  its  life,  it  should  be  immersed  in  warm  (not  hot) 
water  in  a  flat  pan  similar  to  the  photographer's  developing 


38  UBfL-VRY   OF   CONGRESS 

32 — Continued. 
tray,  and  rocked  gently  for  a  time.  This  is  a  perfectly  safe 
proceeding  for  any  manuscript  prior  to  the  year  1800  that  is 
not  mildewed  nor  brittle.  After  that  date  the  quality  of  the 
ink  is  doubtful,  and,  though  much  of  the  writing  of  the  first 
decade  of  the  Nineteenth  century  is  safe,  too  much  care  can 
not  be  used  in  dealing  with  it.  Any  manuscript  in  ink  that 
has  the  slightest  tendency  to  run  must  never,  of  course,  be 
moistened.  The  difiiculties  encountered  in  the  aniline  and 
cheapened  inks  of  the  early  1820's  are  too  many  and  varied 
to  be  disposed  of  in  a  paragraph,  so  must  be  dismissed  with 
the  suggestion  that  it  is  best  to  turn  such  matters  over  to  the 
man  who  knows ;  but  to  make  him  prove  it  before  3^ou  intrust 
him  with  your  valuable  paper,  otherwise  the  document  may 
be  hopelessly  ruined.  After  the  tray  bath  the  manuscript 
is  removed  and  placed  between  fine-grained  towels  or  sheets 
of  blotting  paper,  stretched  flat  on  the  table,  and  the  upper 
towel,  or  blotter,  rubbed  with  gentle  pressure  for  a  few  mo- 
ments (never,  under  any  circumstances,  rub  in  the  slightest 
upon  a  damp  manuscript).  If  the  manuscripts  are  not  soiled 
nor  needing  a  bath  they  should  be  sandwiched  between  sheets 
of  damp  (not  w-et)  newspaper  (never  the  Sunday  colored  sup- 
plement), a  single  sheet  of  manuscript,  then  a  single  sheet  of 
newspaper,  another  manuscript,  another  news  sheet,  etc. 
After  three  or  four  hours  the  manuscripts,  removed  from  the 
news-sheets,  should  be  placed  between  sheets  of  smooth, 
white,  unglazed  pulpboard,  a  single  sheet  of  manuscript 
between  two  sheets  of  pulpboard.  The  pulpboard  is  suffi- 
ciently porous  to  absorb  moisture,  and  best  adapted  for  this 
particular  need.  A  pile  of  these  a  foot  or  more  in  height  may 
be  placed  at  one  time  in  the  press.  Here  they  should  stay 
about  ten  hours,  care  having  been  taken  in  placing  them  be- 
tween  the   boards   that   no   edges   are   turned   nor   wrinkles 


NOTES   ON   THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF  MANUSCRIPTS         39 

32 — Continned. 
folded  in.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  manuscripts  are  dried 
out  perfectly  flat  and  present  a  marvelously  better  appear- 
ance. As  to  patching  torn  manuscripts  and  strengthening 
dilapidated  ones,  a  brief  discussion  of  the  general,  technical 
principles  of  such  work  could  be  but  partially  satisfying,  and 
a  full  discussion  is  out  of  the  question.  The  Library  of 
Congress  uses  crdpeline,  a  mixture  of  cotton  or  silk  gauze  (or 
fine,  mercerized,  bolting  cloth),  with  which  to  cover  its  torn 
or  dilapidated  manuscripts.  It  is,  or  was,  of  French  manu- 
facture and  can  be  obtained  from  any  large  dry-goods  house. 
It  is  pasted  to  the  manuscript  with  flour  and  water  paste  of 
the  following  formula : 

One  cup  of  best  wheat  flour;  three  cups  cold  water; 
%  teaspoonf ul  of  powdered  alum ;  four  grains  of  white  arsenic. 
This  is  beaten  until  free  from  lumps  and  then  boiled  for  ten 
minutes  in  a  double  boiler.  When  cold  remove  the  skin  from 
the  top  and  beat  up  well. 

This  paste  is  used  for  all  the  work.  Mucilage  or  the  various 
manufactured  white  pastes  on  the  market  should  never  be  used 
for  manuscript  work;  they  are  ineffective  in  every  way 
and  dangerous.  The  manuscript,  after  dampening  and  press- 
ing as  described,  is  thinly  coated  with  the  paste  by  means  of  a 
camel's-hair  brush  and  the  crdpeline  laid  on;  it  is  then  placed 
between  sheets  of  paraffin  paper,  put  between  pulp  boards, 
and  put  in  press  for  15  minutes;  then  removed  from  the  press, 
the  paraffin  paper  taken  off,  and  again  placed  between  sheets 
of  pulp  board  under  very  sUght  pressure  until  dry.  One  side  of 
the  manuscript  must  not  be  crdpeUned  unless  the  other  is  also, 
for  the  resultant  unequal  strain  will  curl  it  with  a  curl  that  no 
amount  of  pressure  can  ever  reduce.  Above  all,  the  operator 
should  beware  of  attempting  any  repair  work  upon  a  manu- 
script of  value  unless  he  knows  exactly  how  the  paper  will  act 
during  the  process. 


40  I.IBRARY    OF   CONGRESS 

33.  Mounting  mid  binding. — After  cleaning  and  pressing 
the  manuscripts  may  be  mounted  upon  sheets  of  uniform 
size  and  of  a  quahty  of  paper  dependent  upon  the  expenditure 
permitted.  Good  quaUty  white  Hnen  ledger  is  excellent, 
and  it  should  be  cut  so  that  the  manuscript  can  be  mounted 
thereon  with  the  grain  of  the  paper;  the  grain  of  the  mounting 
sheet  running  vertically  to  insure  flexibility  in  opening  after 
binding,  a  thing  impossible  if  the  grain  of  the  paper  be  hori- 
zontal. A  good  quality  rope-manila  paper  is  cheaper,  is  the 
strongest  of  papers,  and,  in  the  lighter  weights,  possesses 
great  flexibility.  Its  color,  under  some  circumstances,  may 
be  considered  an  objectionable  feature,  but  it  is  the  only 
one.  Manuscripts  should  never  be  mounted  unless  they  are 
to  be  bound  at  once,  as  handling  in  mounted  form  while 
unbound  greatly  increases  the  liability  of  damage.  The 
mounting  sheet  should  allow  at  least  a  full  inch  and  a  half 
on  the  left  beyond  the  established  size  of  the  page  desired 
for  the  binder  to  fold  and  stitch;  and  the  established  size  of 
the  page  depends  upon  the  average  size  of  the  manuscripts 
to  be  bound.  A  margin  of  2  or  3  inches  all  around  the  manu- 
script is  ample;  but,  if  there  are  many  extra  large  papers  in 
the  collection,  a  size  must  be  decided  upon  that  will  accommo- 
date them  with  the  least  amount  of  cutting  and  hinging, 
and  at  the  same  time  not  increase  unnecessarily  the  size  of 
the  volume  for  the  sake  of  a  small  percentage  of  the  papers. 
A  good  average  size  for  the  mounting  sheet  is  10  inches 
wide  by  14  inches  high,  exclusive  of  the  necessary  extra 
margin  for  the  binder.  In  the  case  of  military  muster  rolls, 
returns,  etc.,  which  are  apt  to  be  unusual  in  size  and  proportion, 
an  average  should  be  struck  and  the  rolls  cut  and  hinged 
thereto.  Drastic  as  this  may  seem,  it  is,  in  the  end,  a  safe- 
guard and  protection  to  the  manuscript,  as  the  risk  of  damage 


NOTES   ON  THE   CARE,  ETC.,  OF  MANUSCRIPTS        41 

33 — Continued. 
by  awkward  investigators  is  much  greater  to  large  papers  than 
to  large  papers  cut  and  hinged  to  a  smaller  size  with  reen- 
forced  folds  that^  serve  as  a  protection.  The  general  method 
of  mounting  is  with  strips  of  the  lightest  weight  architect's 
tracing  linen  about  one-half  inch  wide,  impinging  equally  upon 
the  mounting  sheet  and  the  manuscript,  with  a  fraction  of  an 
inch  free  from  paste  to  permit  free  play  to  the  hinge. 


A  good  bond  paper  is  a  fair  substitute  for  the  tracing  linen; 
but  care  must  be  used  in  cutting  this  with  the  grain  of  the 
paper  running  lengthwise  of  the  strip,  otherwise  smooth 
work  is  impossible.  There  are  different  methods  of  placing 
this  hinge,  either  concealing  it  or  not,  by  folding,  as  desired. 


42  UBRARY   OF   CONGRESS 

33 — Continued. 
Do  not  cut  the  strips  with  the  scissors;  a  sharp  knife  will 
alone  give  the  straight  edge  necessary.  At  times  the  nature 
of  the  manuscript  may  require  that  it  be  hinged  at  the  top 
instead  of  at  the  side;  in  such  cases  it  is  a  wise  precaution  to 
paste  a  neatly  printed  w^arning  at  the  top  of  the  mounting 
sheet,  otherwise  an  investigator  will  infallibly  half  tear  the 
manuscript  from  the  mount,  if  he  does  nothing  worse,  before 
realizing  the  different  location  of  the  hinge.  After  the 
manuscripts  are  mounted  they  should  be  bound.  Any  con- 
venient number  of  sheets  to  the  volume  may  be  established; 
but  a  thickness  of  over  2  inches  will  be  found  cumbersome 
to  handle  and,  with  increase  of  difficulty  in  handling,  comes 
increased  danger  of  accident  to  the  manuscripts.  The 
advantages  of  preservation  in  bound  form  are  too  obvious 
to  need  discussion;  but,  of  course,  a  collection  likely  to 
receive  numerous  additions  should  not  be  bound  until  the 
chance  of  increase  has  largely  disappeared.  As  the  com- 
pensating stubs,  alw^ays  necessary  in  bound  volumes  of  manu- 
scripts, will  easily  take  care  of  an  increase  of  a  dozen  or  so 
manuscripts  per  volume,  the  possibility  of  a  small  number  of 
accessions  is  hardly  an  offset  to  the  continued  risk  of  unbound 
collections.  The  various  forms  of  binding  and  different 
binding  materials  are  of  small  moment  compared  with  the 
work  of  bringing  the  manuscript  material  to  the  point  where 
the  binder  is  needed;  and  a  knowledge  of  the  various  leathers 
and  buckrams,  finishes  and  letterings,  etc.,  while  desirable 
is  not  essential,  where  a  competent  foreman  of  binding  can 
be  consulted. 


INDEX. 


[References  are  to  paragraphs.] 

Abbreviations,  24,  25.  '; 

Accessibility,  14,  15. 

Arrangement,  8,  10;  alphabetical,  21;  through  catalogue  cards,  26;  dis- 
arrangement, 8,  23;  faulty,  15;  group,  11,  17;  individual  manuscripts, 
12,  14;  letters  from  and  to,  15;  in  Library  of  Congress,  13;  manuscript 
influence  on,  11;  mechanics  of,  9,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21,  22; 
official  manuscripts,  6,  16;  personal  manuscripts,  8,  22;  shelf  groups,  11; 
subjective,  15,  21;  a  working  method,  9. 

Author  entry,  25,  26. 

Bibliographic  description,  24,  25,  26. 

Binding,  35- 

Biographic  card,  24. 

Bound  volumes,  19,  26. 

Boxes,  23. 

Brackets,  25,  31. 

Calendar,  27;  British  state  papers,  28;  phrase  arrangement,  28,  30;  phrase 
uniformity,  27,  29;  printing,  31;  unnecessary  words,  30. 

Calendaring,  10;  advantages,  27;  cost,  27;  danger,  29;  disadvantages,  27; 
entries,  29;  example  of  entry,  28;  length  of  entry,  29;  general  rule,  28; 
method  of  composing  entry,  29,  30;  numbering  entry,  29,  31;  nature 
and  character,  28. 

Cards,  24;  of  application,  3;  catalogue,  14,  24,  25. 

Catalogue,  the  general,  25. 

Cataloguing,  10,  14,  24,  25,  26;  before  arrangement,  26;  of  bound  vol- 
umes, 26;  entry  form,  24;  of  specific  collections,  25. 

Chronological  order,  9,  13,  14,  16,  22,  24. 

Classes  of  manuscripts,  4,  17. 

Classification,  4,  11,  16.  20. 

43 


44  INDEX 

Cleaning,  32. 

Commissions,  17. 

Consultation  of  manuscripts,  2. 

Copying,  2. 

Crepeline,  32. 

Cross  references,  25,  29,  30. 

Cutting  and  hinging,  23,  ^^. 

Dating,  of  folders,  23;  of  manuscripts,  9,  14;   undated  manuscripts,  8, 

14,  15- 
Destruction  of  indexes,  6. 

Devices  for  storing,  23. 

Diaries.     See  Journals  and  diaries. 

Disarrangement.     See  under  Arrangement. 

Documents,  4. 

Dust  protection,  23. 

Enclosures,  14. 

Envelopes,  23. 

Folders,  23. 

Folding,  23. 

Government,  constitutional  divisions,  16,  25. 

Great  Britain,  state  papers  calendars,  28. 

Handling  precautions,  2. 

Hiiiging,  ^^^.     See  also  Cutting  and  hinging. 

Illuminated  manuscripts,  4. 

Indentation.  2/;;  in  printing,  31. 

Index,  6,  30;  destruction  of,  6. 

Indexing,  29,  30,  31. 

Indorsements,  25. 

Information,  supplied,  25. 

Ink,  in  copying,  2;  dangers,  32. 

Investigators.     See  Readers. 

Journals  and  diaries,  18. 

Labels,  19.  •  • 

Library^  of  Congress,  13,  33. 

Literar\'  manuscripts,  22. 

location  symbols,  24. 

Madan,  Falconer,  4. 

Manuscript  sense,  8,  10. 

Military'  papers,  17,  33. 


Index  45 

Miscellaneous  manuscripts,  2 1 . 

Months,  abbreviations,  24. 

Mounting,  2^. 

Names,  confusion  of,  31. 

Numbering,  of  calendar  entries,  29,  31;  of  manuscripts,  20,  26. 

Official  papers,  4,  5,  6,  7,  16,  25. 

Order.     See  Arrangement;  also  Chronological  order. 

Orderly  books,  18. 

Pagination,  24. 

Paper,  32,  33. 

Parchments,  4,  32. 

Paste,  32. 

Personal  or  private  papers,  4,  5,  8,  22. 

Photography,  2. 

Portfolios,  23. 

Preservation,  i. 

Pressing,  32. 

Printing  of  calendars,  31. 

Protective  devices,  23. 

Punctuation,  24,  25.  ^ 

Readers,  application,  3;  file  record  of,  3;  handling  of  manuscripts,  2,  23, 

^7,;  introductions  and  responsibility,  3. 
Repairs,  32. 

Restrictions  in  use  of  manuscripts,  2,3. 
Returns,  military,  17,  33. 
Rubric.     See  under  Author  and  Title  entries. 
Scientific  manuscripts,  22. 
Size  of  manuscripts,  17,  33. 
Storage  devices,  23. 

Subjective  arrangement.     See  under  Arrangement. 
Supplied  information,  25. 
Symbols,  24. 
Title  entry  form,  25,  26. 
Typewritten  documents,  4. 
Undated  manuscripts.     See  under  Dating. 
Use,  2,3. 
Volumes,  binding  titles,  26;  bound,  ig. 

o 


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